Share this Story

Origin of Homosexuality? Britons, Canadians Say “Nature”

by Josephine Mazzuca, PhD

Senior Staff Writer, Toronto Bureau

Nature or nurture? The question of whether homosexuality is
something a person is born with, or is due to factors such as
upbringing and environment, is frequently debated worldwide,
especially in countries (such as the United States) where
same-sex marriage is a key political issue. Gallup recently polled
Americans, Canadians, and Britons about their views*, and found
that slight majorities of people in Canada and Great Britain use
"nature" to explain the origin of homosexuality. Americans, on the
other hand, are about evenly divided between the "nature" and
"nurture" arguments.

Fifty-five percent of Britons and 54% of Canadians believe that
homosexuality is "something a person is born with." About a quarter
in each country (24% of Britons and 29% of Canadians) take the
opposite view, saying that factors such as upbringing and
environment are behind homosexuality. In the United States however,
only 37% of respondents feel that homosexuality is something a
person is born with, while a similar percentage, 41%, think that
upbringing and environment lead to a person to be attracted to
others of the same sex. In all three countries, about one in five
respondents either volunteer answers of "neither" or "both" to this
question, or have no opinion.

Why the Difference?

The data show that religious commitment, defined by frequency of
church attendance, is related to opinion on this topic, and not
just in the United States. In all three countries, people who
attend church more often are less likely to believe that
homosexuality is something that people are born with and more
likely to believe that it stems from upbringing or environment. In
the United States, a quarter (26%) of those who report that they
attend church weekly believe that homosexuality is something a
person is born with, whereas almost half (49%) who seldom or never
attend church feel this way. Similar patterns emerge in Great
Britain and Canada.

Because survey data consistently show that Americans tend to be
more religious than either Canadians or Britons (see "Worlds Apart:
Religion in Canada, Britain, U.S." in Related Items), it is not
surprising that Americans are more likely than those in the other
two countries to favor the "nurture" argument.

Robert K. Knight is director of the Culture and Family Institute
at Concerned Women for America, a conservative American public
policy organization. Knight feels the media in all three
countries have a left-wing bias, but says "there is a
livelier, alternative press in this country [the United States],
including talk radio, that directly challenges the liberal
media who are biased in favor of the 'born gay' theory." (Knight
himself espouses the view that homosexuality results from a
person's upbringing.) "Europe and Britain both
labor under a virtual monopoly of left-wing news sources
and people are only getting one side of the story."

Mitchel Raphael, editor in chief of fab, a gay culture
and lifestyle magazine based in Ontario, believes that sexuality
cannot be fully explained by either nature or nurture. Although his
views on the topic of homosexuality are quite different from
Knight's, Raphael agrees that the media and politics highly
influence people's opinions. "Most people have been brainwashed
about sexuality for political reasons -- by both the religious
right and gay activists," says Raphael. "Sexuality exists along a
spectrum. Some people may be stuck at one point, many shift over
time."

"The discrepancies in the countries … simply represent who
has been able to manipulate the minds of the masses best," Raphael
adds. "Environment/nature debates simplify a complicated process --
but are effective as a tool of political manipulation for people
who seek simple solutions."

Bottom Line

The tendency of Americans to answer this question differently
from Canadians or Britons is certainly tied to religion. But could
there be other cultural reasons why Americans are less likely than
others to believe that sexuality is determined at birth? Ron
Inglehart is the director of the World Values Survey at the
University of Michigan, a project that studies sociocultural and
political change throughout the world. Inglehart believes that
characteristics specific to American culture may also be
influencing public opinion about homosexuality.

The U.S. results for the "nature vs. nurture" question are "very
much in keeping with the American tendency to emphasize individual
responsibility rather than societal responsibility for virtually
any type of social issue," Inglehart says. "This tendency is linked
with the relatively limited scope of the welfare state in the U.S.
by comparison with other equally developed countries. It is an
aspect of American exceptionalism in which the U.S. is more likely
to emphasize traditional values on such topics as religion and
national pride."

*Results in the United States are based on telephone
interviews 1,000 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May
2-4, 2004. For results based on the total sample of national
adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of
sampling error is ±3 percentage points. The survey was
conducted by Gallup USA.

Results in Canada are based on telephone interviews with
1,005 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Aug. 30-Sept.
6, 2004. For results based on the total sample of national adults,
one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling
error is ±3 percentage points. The survey was
conducted by Gallup Canada.

Results in Great Britain are based on telephone interviews
with 1,009 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Aug.
25-Sept. 7, 2004. For results based on the total sample of national
adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of
sampling error is ±5 percentage points. The survey was
conducted by Gallup UK.

Slightly more Americans agree (52%) than disagree (45%) that the federal government is responsible for making sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. This balance of views is similar to last year.

Americans' daily self-reports of spending averaged $98 in November, up from $93 in October. The latest figure is the highest average recorded for the month of November since Gallup began tracking consumer spending in 2008.